Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Judge: Both Slender Man stabbing defendants competent

By: Associated Press//December 18, 2014//

Judge: Both Slender Man stabbing defendants competent

By: Associated Press//December 18, 2014//

Listen to this article

By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

Joseph Smith, attorney for one of two 12-year-old defendants, sits in a courtroom at the county court in Waukesha, Wis. on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014 during the trial for two 12-year-old girls accused of stabbing another girl in May 2014. The two girls told detectives the attack was an attempt to please Slenderman, a fictional character they found on a horror website. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Michael Sears)
Joseph Smith, attorney for Anissa Weier, sits in a courtroom Thursday in Waukesha. Judge Michael Bohren on Thursday found Smith’s 13-year-old client competent to stand trial. (AP Photos/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Michael Sears)

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Two Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing a classmate to please a fantasy character called Slender Man are mentally fit to stand trial on attempted homicide charges, a judge ruled Thursday.

Experts for the state concluded that both girls — 13-year-old Anissa Weier and 12-year-old Morgan Geyser — would be able to assist in their own defenses but their attorneys disagreed with the findings. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren sided with the state during back-to-back hearings to decide the issue Thursday.

During the first hearing, Weier watched quietly as experts explained why they thought she was or wasn’t fit to go on trial. Wearing a black pantsuit and shackles, she only spoke to tell the judge that she believed she wasn’t competent.

Psychologists Anthony Jurek and Michael Caldwell testified for the defense that they interviewed the girl several times. They said she’s clearly intelligent but has trouble making decisions when she’s bombarded with information. She doesn’t understand the nuances of the criminal justice system, such as the risk of turning down a plea bargain, they said.

Psychiatrist Robert Rawski testified for the state that he believed the girl was highly capable. Ted Szczupakiewicz, an assistant district attorney, said judging by the two defense psychologists’ reports the girl answered their questions about the legal process correctly.

Bohren said that by all accounts the girl is highly intelligent.

“I’m satisfied that the issues of age and maturity do not override her competency,” he said. “She’s competent to make the decisions that have to be made.”

The judge ordered Geyser to undergo mental health treatment in August after a psychologist testified that she claimed to see and hear unicorns, Slender Man and Lord Voldemort, the villain from the “Harry Potter” series. Psychiatrist Kenneth Casimir generated a report in November, however, that found her mental state had improved.

Bailiffs led Geyser into the courtroom for her hearing in shackles, too. She wore black leggings and a zip-up sweatshirt over a Batman T-shirt.

The proceeding lasted only a few minutes. Her attorney, Anthony Cotton, told the judge the girl suffers from schizophrenia, but he declined to challenge Casimir’s report, offering the judge no explanation. After the proceeding, he told reporters that he felt he didn’t have a strong basis to challenge the report.

Bohren said he thought Casimir’s report was credible and deemed the girl competent to stand trial.

Defense attorney Anthony Cotton, left, speaks with Waukesha Asst. District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz after a hearing at the county court in Waukesha, Wis. on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014 during the trial for two 12-year-old girls accused of stabbing another girl in May 2014. The two girls told detectives the attack was an attempt to please Slenderman, a fictional character they found on a horror website.
Defense attorney Anthony Cotton (left) speaks with Waukesha Assistant District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz on Thursday after a hearing in Waukesha.

The judge set a joint preliminary hearing, the point in the legal process where he will have to decide whether enough evidence exists to proceed to trial, for February.

Prosecutors have charged both girls with attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the attack in May in Waukesha. They say the girls plotted for months to kill classmate Payton Leutner, luring her to a wooded park after a sleepover and stabbed her 19 times. After her attackers left, Leutner crawled through the woods to a sidewalk where a bicyclist found her and called 911.

Weier and Geyser were found walking toward a national forest where they said they believed Slender Man lived in a mansion. They told investigators they believed killing Leutner would curry favor with the figure.

All three girls were 12 at the time of the incident.

Polls

Should Wisconsin Supreme Court rules be amended so attorneys can't appeal license revocation after 5 years?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests